


Draconnection

by tatersalad5001



Series: Miracle Synchro Fusion [7]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Background Relationships, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2020-12-14 09:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21013199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatersalad5001/pseuds/tatersalad5001
Summary: Luna had said she wasn’t a big fan of dueling herself, and that was true. But the more she thought about Leo’s words, the more curious she was. How good was she right now? And she’d watched a lot of duels on TV with Leo recently. The televised duelists made the game look like so much fun, even though it wasn’t always her thing. And dueling would be more fun if Leo and Luna went into it together, both aiming to try their best.That stranger was... It wasn’t like Luna felt like they’d met before, but it felt like she’d seen them somewhere before. At least once. It distracted her throughout her first duel in the tournament. But still, she won and made it to the second round.





	Draconnection

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in the same universe as Return from the Different Dimension. In fact, this was planned to be a chapter of the story, if not for...well, I don't want to argue with myself anymore about whether certain characters could count as GX characters or not, so it was easier to make this separate. There's a lot of weird timeline differences between this universe and canon, but the core of it is, this takes place before 5DS, and after GX. 
> 
> The intended timeline for DM in this universe is also that it takes place sort of early on in the manga, somewhere before Duelist Kingdom. That could definitely change at some point. But for now... I guess the main quirk of that here is, there is a King of Games, but it's not Yugi. Not right now.
> 
> Would definitely recommend reading Return from the Different Dimension, because... This takes place after chapter 25, and at one point, this was straight up going to be chapter 26. So, it doesn't really read like a separate story. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy!!!

“I don’t know, Leo...” Luna cast Leo a doubtful look over the book in her hands. “I’m not super into dueling, you know that. I don’t mind watching you duel, but...”

”Come on, Luna, it’s more fun if we both participate together! We can see who gets further in the tournament!” Leo pouted. “Besides, when’s the last time either of us dueled against someone besides each other? Or like, Chazz or Jesse or Jaden, but they’re all either pros or they should be pros, so they don’t count.”

”You and Jaden went to Duel Links together. You dueled a lot of people there,” Luna pointed out. How long ago had that been?’ A month or two? Maybe longer? Maybe shorter? Time was hard to keep track of at times. It felt like it was moving so fast to Luna these days.

”Okay, but when’s the last time you dueled someone else?” Leo shifted his weight, unable to stand still for too long. “This is our chance to see how good we both really are! And we can compare and see how good we are. It’ll be fun, I promise!”

Jaden poked his head into the living room. He looked like he just woke up, even though he’d been awake for a couple of hours now. “What’re we talking about?”

Luna watched him take in the scene in front of him. Luna herself was sitting on the couch; she’d been reading before Leo interrupted her. Leo himself was standing next to the couch ready to go. His shoes were on, his duel disk ready with his deck already in place. He was trying very hard to contain his excitement, and failing miserably.

The television was off. Jesse and Chazz were both out of the apartment. 

“Industrial Illusions is hosting a tournament!” Leo announced to Jaden. “The kid one, for anyone 14 or younger.” Industrial Illusions liked to hold tournaments like this somewhat frequently. The tournaments were fairly relaxed and casual, aiming to encourage newer and younger duelists to join in. Prizes were still offered, however, even with the target audience in mind. The tournaments were often split into different age ranges. The one on Leo’s mind was the youngest age group the company arranged somewhat regular tournaments for. “And we’re younger than 14! We should do it!”

”Sounds fun,” Jaden commented. He rubbed one of his eyes. “Are you feeling up to going, Luna? Do you want to participate? You don’t have to duel if you don’t want to.”

Luna had said she wasn’t a big fan of dueling herself, and that was true. But the more she thought about Leo’s words, the more curious she was. How good was she right now? And she’d watched a lot of duels on TV with Leo recently. The televised duelists made the game look like so much fun, even though it wasn’t always her thing. 

“I think I'm feeling up to it.” Luna carefully slid a bookmark in place and closed her book. “And, fine, Leo. Why not? It shouldn’t last longer than a few hours.”

Leo had a point, too. It was more fun that they were going together, both aiming to try their best.

”Cool.” Jaden limply dabbed, earning groans from both the twins. “I’ll be ready to go out in a minute. We’ll get you both registered in time. Remember to, uh...game your...get on...”

”’Get your game on’?” Luna asked.

”Yeah, that!”

* * *

The tournament wasn’t far from Jaden’s apartment. The trio arrived with plenty of time to spare. It was quickly apparent that Maximillion Pegasus, the president of Industrial Illusions, wasn’t present. None of them were overly upset over this. Pegasus showed up at these tournaments from time to time, but Jaden assured the twins with certainty that Pegasus was a very busy man.

Leo and Luna were now aware more than ever that Jaden knew this partially from personal experience. Jesse had told them about his search for Rainbow Dragon, and how Pegasus was involved, more than once, but it was Jaden who recounted how urgent the search had become. Finding the dragon had become a life or death situation.

The trio had had time to kill before the tournament started. They’d started to chat about duel strategy, mostly strategy for Leo, when Leo was suddenly distracted from the conversation.

Luna followed his gaze. A stranger had just tapped on his shoulder.

Something about them seemed almost familiar to Luna, but she couldn’t place what it was. They were dressed in a purple and white long-sleeved striped shirt, their black hair tied back in a ponytail, a pink bandana tied around their neck.

”Sorry to interrupt,” they apologized, “but you dropped this.” They held a card out to Leo.

Leo took the card and gasped. “I can’t believe I... Thank you so much!!” He grinned at the stranger before slipping the card in his pocket.

(It wasn’t a card from his deck. Jaden had given Luna and Leo each a copy of Flame Wingman for the tournament, not to use, but to hold onto for luck. Their actual decks were registered by the tournament staff when the twins registered themselves. As long as they made no attempt to use Flame Wingman, it was allowed.)

”No problem,” the stranger replied with a smile. “Glad I could help. Good luck!”

Someone else might think they were trying to get an advantage against Leo by seeing one of his cards in case the two ended up as opponents. Luna didn’t get that vibe from them at all. They seemed like they genuinely were trying to be nice.

There wasn’t much time to dwell on it. The tournament started soon after. Jaden ran off to the stands to watch, shouting good luck and encouragement to them both on his way over. 

Still, that stranger was... It wasn’t like Luna felt like they’d met before, but it felt like she’d seen them somewhere before. At least once.

It distracted her throughout her first duel. But still, she won and made it to the second round. 

And the third. The semi-finals.

Leo was out by that point, having lost in the second round. But he joined Jaden in the audience, cheering Luna on. And she won that duel, too, making it to the finals.

Her hands shook, her mind complaining against her. She hadn’t thought she’d make it this far, but she was reaching her limit. She was work out. Even at the end of the previous duel, she’d been able to pull through, but she’d started having trouble keeping up and playing well. But still, she resolved to try her best.

“Alright, everyone, time for the final duel! Time to find out who our champion is!” The announcer’s voice filled the room from speakers placed around the dueling arena prepared for this event. “From the left side of the bracket, we have the fairy princess, Luna!”

”YEAH!!! GOOD LUCK LUNA!!!”

That was definitely Leo yelling from the audience. She glanced over to where she knew Jaden and Leo were sitting. Leo waved to her. Jaden gave her a thumbs up. She waved back to the two of them.

”And from the right side of the bracket, her bark doesn’t compare to her bite. She’ll eat you right up! It’s Mokey!”

Luna’s opponent got about as much applause from the audience as Luna herself, discounting Leo. The announcer wished both duelists good luck, and reminded all participants that true duelists were determined by their determination, not by a champion title.

The duel was about to start, and Luna got a good look at her opponent when she realized—

“It’s you!”

Mokey was the person who gave Flame Wingman back to Leo earlier after it fell from his pocket. 

“Oh, hey!” Mokey smiled as she waved to Luna. “One of you made it to the finals, cool! Sorry it has to go this way.”

She was referring to the victory she was expecting. How she was expecting Luna to lose.

After Luna drew her starting hand, honestly, she agreed with Mokey. She had trouble for a moment getting a proper hold of her starting hand. Her hands were sweaty.

The duel wore on for several turns. Mokey was clearly good, and Luna was no novice herself. Even tired out, Luna was able to keep up a decent game. Not her best game of course, in different circumstances she would’ve made different, better decisions. But it kept her in the duel, and it certainly wasn’t one-sided to Mokey’s benefit.

Especially not after Luna brought out Sunlight Unicorn. Her unicorn friend even put her in the lead for a short while.

It didn’t last. 

“I Ritual Summon: Hungry Hamburger!” Mokey announced. With a smirk, she added, “And I equip Hungry Hamburger with Ritual Weapon!”

That was one well-done hamburger. Luna lost shortly after that, but she wasn’t overly disappointed over the result. She knew she was at her limit, and she’d done better than she expected. 

As soon as the tournament was over, Leo jumped up from his seat and ran towards Luna until he was close enough to pull her into a hug.

”That was so cool!!” He squealed, though at a considerate volume not to make her go dead. “You did really well, I’m so happy for you! Congrats!”

”Thanks.” Luna beamed as she hugged Leo back. “You did really good, too. You’ve gotten so much better than you were last year, seeing you summon Power-Tool Dragon was a lot of fun! You’re still one of my favorite duelists ever.”

They broke off the hug soon after that. They had to store some of their best hug energy for Jaden, who was guaranteed to scoop them up into a big ol’ bear hug when he was finished going through some post-tournament stuff for them. Mostly, picking up Luna’s second-place prize and Leo’s best of 8 prize. 

While they waited, someone tugged on both their sleeves for attention. The twins turned around to see that it was Mokey.

”Hey. That was a good duel,” Mokey said. “I just wanted to ask something.”

”What is it?” Luna asked.

”Can we duel again sometime? I could tell you weren’t dueling at your best today, especially not during our duel, and dueling’s less fun that way. I want a do-over.” Mokey looked at Leo, a frown on her face. “I want to duel you sometime, too, if you don’t mind. I watched your last duel earlier, and you had some bad luck with that match-up. If you dueled against someone else, I think you could’ve made it farther in the tournament if you’d dueled against someone else.”

”I’d be happy to,” Luna responded.

”Of course we can duel sometime!” Leo jumped in excitement. “That would be so much fun! We can hang out and duel, and, and can we be friends??”

Luna couldn’t blame Leo for his excitement. The two of them didn’t have many opportunities to make new friends their age. A lot of that was Luna’s fault.

”Sure, you two seem cool. We can be friends.” Their new friend laughed, a smile on her face. “Leo and Luna, right? I should introduce myself properly. See, my brother’s way better at dueling than I am, so I don’t want to hurt his reputation with my dueling, and I’m not sure how my brother or how Industrial Illusions would feel if they knew I dueled in this tournament. They’ll probably find out anyway, especially because I won, but... Anyway, I’m Mokuba. Mokuba Kaiba.”

Luna’s jaw dropped. “I knew I recognized you somewhere.”

”No way!!” From the sound of it, Leo was just as surprised as Luna.

Did the two of them just befriend KaibaCorp’s vice president??

**Author's Note:**

> jaden, walking over: oh hey mokuba lol  
mokuba: oh yikes it's you. hope saving the world or whatever is going well for you, loser. lol
> 
> Mokuba's genderfluid in this story. Usually, Mokuba identifies as a boy and uses he/him pronouns, but sometimes, Mokuba's a girl and uses she/her. In this case while registering for the tournament, Mokuba made it clear this was a girl day. Even though Mokuba's like, sort of undercover here I guess, the pronouns here are accurate for her throughout the tournament. 
> 
> This is, at least right now, early DM timewise for Mokuba. And Mokuba was a pretty snarky gremlin during that time in the manga, but Mokuba comes off nicer here. Early manga Mokuba debuted with a grudge against Yugi, and Mokuba was under quite a bit of pressure from Seto. Mokuba's still absolutely a snarky chaotic being here as well, maybe not quite so much so, but I also feel like Mokuba would enjoy meeting some competent gamers her age. It's not like Mokuba's above cheating or anything. Mokuba's just here to have fun.
> 
> Anyway, I felt like Mokuba, Leo, and Luna could be good friends, and I was just like, how could they meet, and that's really how this started.
> 
> Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!!!


End file.
